Almost anything can be improved with music, as evidenced by tuba-accompanied balcony serenades, operatic State of the Union addresses, and yodeled bank statements. Tune your ears to the sweet sounds on stage with today’s Groupon: for $21, you get one Area 1 ticket to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, performing in the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium at the Asheville Civic Center (up to a $42 value). Choose between the following dates:

• Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m.
• Sunday, April 10 at 3 p.m.

The Asheville Symphony invites classical newcomers and connoisseurs alike to bask in the sonic onslaught of powerful tunes during its seven-concert season. Under the skillful baton work of conductor Daniel Meyer, a six-season Asheville Symphony veteran, each concert harnesses the well-versed notes of up to 100 talented orchestra members and features a performance by a different guest artist.

The symphony's March 12 performance begins with Pulitzer Prize-winner George Walker's Lyric For Strings, followed by Franz Joseph Haydn's Concerto no. 2 in D Major, a three-movement arrangement featuring the fancy and sometimes shmancy bow work of 18-year-old cellist Matthew Allen from the Cleveland Institute of Music. After intermission, the euphonious evening draws to a close with Dvorák's Symphony no. 9 in E Minor (From The New World), leaving the audience's string cravings satiated and reducing the odds of a yarn-store riot.

The April 10 concert commences with a memorial mood, lauding three Viennese masters of classical concord—Brahms, Mozart, and Strauss. The first piece features Soovin Kim, known for his violin wizardry, as he casts sweet-sounding spells on open ears with Brahms' Concerto in D Major. Intermission's three-legged lobby races are followed by Mozart's four-movement Serenade in G Major, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The afternoon is rounded out by Richard Strauss' playful piece, Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche.

Reviews

CVNC reviewed a previous performance by the Asheville Symphony, and more than 500 Facebookers like the symphony:

• The concert was not only musically impressive in every way, so greatly enriched by its vocal and dramatic elements, but was also a resounding affirmation for the healthy state of the arts in our area. – Laura McDowell, CVNC